Ricinulei is a small order of arachnids. Like most arachnids, they are predatory, eating small arthropods. They occur today in west-central Africa (Ricinoides) and the Americas as far north as Texas. As of 2021, 91 extant species of ricinuleids have been described worldwide, all in the single family Ricinoididae. In older works they are sometimes referred to as Podogona. Due to their obscurity they do not have a proper common name, though in academic literature they are occasionally referred to as hooded tickspiders.
Ricinulei
Ricinoides atewa nymph from Ghana
Male Ricinoides karschii from Campo Reserve, Cameroon
Male Pseudocellus pearsei from Grutas Tzabnah, Yucatán, Mexico
Arachnids are arthropods in the class Arachnida of the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and vinegaroons.
"Arachnida" from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, 1904
Courtship behavior of Thelyphonus sp.
Hubbardia pentapeltis (Schizomida)
Fossil Goniotarbus angulatus (Phalangiotarbida)